UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Charlie Noffsinger, associate vice president for Penn State University Police and Public Safety, has announced his retirement from public service and will be stepping down from his role effective Dec. 31.
As associate vice president, Noffsinger is responsible for all UPPS operations, including University police, office of Emergency Management, physical security office, co-chairing the Behavioral Threat Management team, Clery Act compliance, and police records, across all Penn State campuses.
“AVP Noffsinger’s leadership has positively influenced the department and his contributions will have a truly lasting impact,” said Sara Thorndike, senior vice president for Finance and Business. “It’s been a pleasure working alongside Charlie, and I’m sure I speak for all on our team when I say that we are happy for his reaching this well-deserved milestone and accomplishment, although he will be missed.”
Through his extensive experience in field operations, emergency management planning, threat assessment, large-scale and special event operations, strategic development, and regulatory reporting and compliance, Noffsinger has made numerous contributions to University Police and Public Safety (UPPS). These most notably include the centralization of university police, which changed the foundation of policing at Penn State; the integration of physical security into the department to seamlessly align police, emergency management, and physical security; and the creation of a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program within UPPS to support transparency and accountability.
“I have been honored to lead in a department dedicated to serving and protecting the Penn State and surrounding communities with respect, professionalism and accountability,” said Noffsinger. “I have full confidence that the exceptional leadership team within UPPS will continue this mission and the department will continue its work as an instrumental leader in innovative campus policing and public safety practices.”
Effective Jan. 1, 2023, Wesley Sheets, UPPS executive deputy chief of operations, will take on the role of interim chief of police and public safety for the department until a permanent replacement is selected. Sheets joined Penn State in 2013 as a police lieutenant and station commander and was promoted to deputy chief of police for the southwest district in 2018, before his appointment to his current position in 2021.
Noffsinger joined Penn State in his current position in 2016. He began his law enforcement career in 1988 as a security officer and was a founding police officer at the University of Michigan Police Department. He also held the ranks of sergeant, lieutenant and captain at Michigan before serving the department as deputy chief from 2009 to 2012. In 2013, Noffsinger joined the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where he served as chief of the Department of Public Safety, prior to accepting his current role at Penn State.